


Honey and Darling

by Naiesu



Category: The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time
Genre: M/M, Male Sheik, Teasing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-23
Updated: 2016-02-16
Packaged: 2018-05-14 00:29:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5722801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Naiesu/pseuds/Naiesu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of one-shots and drabbles (usually) revolving around shink</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Beginnings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First impressions are important

Sheik had had enough.

Since the beginning of his training to protect the princess of Hyrule, all he ever heard about was the Hero. Link this, Link that, how cute he was in the clothes from the forest, how blue his eyes were, how his hair shone, how fair his skin was, yada yada yada. If he ever had the time to draw, he was sure he could sketch the Hero down to his last freckle.

"Sheik," The Princess' voice rang in his head, Hylian accent tripping over the ancient Sheikahn words, “What are you doing there? Impa says you need to return immediately, for the Hero could awaken any day, and you still have training to complete."

He sighed, rubbing at the ocher skin peeking over the wrappings covering his nose. Zelda was sure to know when he would awaken, so he didn’t really need to continue visiting the decrepit Temple of Time every day.

Scarlet eyes flickered up to the dais possessing the Master Sword when a beam of light spiraled from the solitary window the room held. Had Zelda not known?

In only a few jumps Sheik had hidden himself among the shadows in the rafters, and set about crawling along them to perch over the beams. He had waited so long for this day, and not even Impa would keep him from seeing the Hero with his own eyes.

A predatory smirk twisted thin lips. Sheik could not _wait_ to break Zelda’s bubble. Trapped in the Sacred Realm for 7 years? Fair wouldn't even begin to describe his skin anymore—pasty, more like it. Not bathing for all that time, either? Oh, dear Princess, people only stay 'cute' for so long.

His eyes focused on the man who came stumbling out of the light, and his smirk became one of smugness. He should have made a bet with her before he left.

A swift jump had him landing on the dais, all emotion having been wiped clean from his face. He had a speech to deliver, and emotion wasn't something Impa would approve—

Sheik tensed, fingers clamping around a needle hidden within the confines of his sleeve when he came face to face with a sword.

It was true—the boy was pasty. His hair was far too long, and greasy beyond what was socially acceptable. He teetered on atrophied legs that were longer than he was used to, his arm shook with the strain of holding his blade, and his body was far too thin.

Even so, his eyes held their ferocity, and stood out a stunning cerulean against straw colored hair. Hadn't Zelda said his hair was golden?

A light blue fae flittered out from under Link’s hat, hands on her hips as she circled Sheik. "And who are you?"

Sheik gave a soft bow of his head, fearing anything more would lead to him being decapitated. "I am Sheik. Survivor of the Sheikah."

The sword to his throat lowered, and Sheik stood straight again, but was only met with a confused stare. What was he looking at? Sheik glanced at the fae, but even she looked lost.

They couldn't speak Sheikahn.

And Sheik couldn't speak Hylian.

He sighed, biting the inside of his lip so his irritation wouldn't show through.

Some first meeting.


	2. Middles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a drowning mention, but otherwise nothing too bad

Everything had been planned out. A bedroll, a campfire, and plenty of meats and assorted vegetables for Link, all set under the solitary tree above Lake Hylia. After days traversing the twisting halls and winding corridors of the Water Temple he was sure to be tired.

What hadn't been planned out, however, was Link deciding to be cheeky to catch Sheik off guard.

Sheik's ears pricked when he caught the sound of splashing, and he drew a needle from his sleeve, stalking to the edge of the fire. Though he could see far better than the other races in the dark, he sighed when all he caught was faint splashing. The water level was rising at a steady rate, and Sheik turned his head to listen. It got more and more quiet, and he shrugged it off when it died out. A tektite running off, maybe?

The splashing resumed, and Sheik furrowed his eyebrows. It sounded more like...dare he say _struggling_?

Sheik grasped a stick from the fire, and tossed it out over the lake, squinting his eyes to follow the flame's reflection.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing—

Was that a _hand_?

"Mazhe!"

Sheik dove into Lake Hylia, slashing at every weed that clawed at his ankles and hindered his movements. What an idiot! Why wasn't he wearing his mask!?

He dove under the water, tugging Link until he had to cut at the weed wrapped around his leg.

 

~~~

 

Cursing was high on Sheik's priority list while he was performing compressions.

Just as he had hooked his fingers under the bandages around his face, ready to breathe life back into Link, he curled in on himself in a fit of coughs.

Sheik fell back onto his haunches, watching as Link turned onto his side and spit up lungful after lungful of lake water, and Navi flitting about his form with restless blabbering. He clenched his hands. How could Link make him worry so much? He could have drowned, so why didn't he just come out of the temple the normal way?

Link rolled onto his back, casting a weary smile up at Sheik. He held a shaking hand up, waving it once.

Sheik slapped him.

Link stared up at him in shock, and he ground his teeth.

"'Haralit'? _'Haralit'_?" Sheik snapped, furious with the Hylian. "Pároc ru! Quhad pároc—"

He cut himself off when Link waved his hands in a fervid attempt to calm him. When Sheik settled down enough, Link sat up—one arm wrapped around his chest in a protective manner as he continued to cough. He held out his other arm, palm upwards and held out to Sheik in a confused gesture.

Sheik pointed to Link, made a cutting gesture at his throat, and then jabbed his thumb towards himself in exasperation. Link's eyes widened, horrified that he could do such a thing to his guide.

"I think what Sheik's trying to tell you is he was worried." Navi settled on Link's shoulder, hefting a chunk of moss from his hair.

Cerulean eyes gazed at Sheik with careful regard, waiting for conformation.

Sheik heaved another sigh, and nodded, but ended up shaking his head when Link offered a soft smile and a few comforting—but croaked—words that he still couldn’t understand.


	3. Insides

From the outside, the temples all looked the same to Sheik. An edifice meant for worship. Just a simple building. However, the insides were a different matter entirely.

Link had gotten lost for almost a week inside the Forest Temple, what with its twisting halls and endless corridors. The battle with Phantom Ganon had seemed almost anticlimactic afterwards.

The Fire Temple had left Sheik worried beyond belief as Link came stumbling out burnt and bleeding, though he still held onto his medallion with pride. Sheik was furious with him as he tended to his wounds. How could he trouble him so? Zelda had teased him for days afterward, but he had denied any attraction towards Link. He was a simple guide.

The Water Temple had made him fret more than the Fire Temple if possible. Link was inside for nearly two and a half weeks this time, and when the water level began to rise, Sheik's anxiety began to settle. However, the Link wanted to sneak up on him, and instead of leaving the temple through the Sacred Realm, he had gone through the entrance. Without a mask, the idiot.

Sheik had had to save him from drowning, resuscitated him, and backhanded him for the panic he caused. Link had loved it, as it had been the first real reaction he had gotten from his guide.

The Shadow Temple was a home away from home to Sheik, but when Link came scrabbling to the surface, covered in gashes and Gibdo bites and crying out at everything that moved, Sheik knew he would never bring him back.

The Spirit Temple. _The Spirit Temple_. The lesser evil. There was nothing particularly wrong with this temple. Link was in and out in only three days, though he was both singed and covered in frostbite. The temple was not what was complained about.

No, it was the _sand_. Oh, did Sheik ever hear about that. Sand in his boots, sand in his gloves, sand in his undergarments. Every trip to Lake Hylia, he heard about how awful the sand was, and each time he reminded Link he had been there, too. Outside in the sun, to boot.

And though the temples were terrible to Link, his was ever thankful for them, as they were the reason he had even gotten to meet him in the first place.


	4. Outsides

The Kokiri didn't take well to outsiders; Sheik knew as much. They were sheltered forest children that wanted nothing more than to protect their home and live on in peace.

So when he appeared in the flash of a Deku Nut, he was welcomed only with screams and panic.

" _Sheik_!" He straitened, eyes flying to his charge.

Link only snapped at him in situations when Sheik had made him angry, and only then it was a simple hiss of his name.

The Hylian spared him enough of a glance to glare before running about in a frenzy, waving his arms to get attention.

It took some time, but the Kokiri emerged from their homes once again, eyes wide with realization. They knew this was their Link—simply grown up and dressed differently. Within a few moments, he was covered in children tugging at every part of his clothing they could get their hands on, while question after question flew from every mouth.

Sheik chuckled, shaking his head when Link offered a few futile attempts at speech. The children only latched onto his arms, pulling at his vambraces. Link shot him a helpless glance.

He shrugged, smirking. What good was he? A simple Sheikahn guide who could speak no Hylian? He couldn't even understand Kokiri.

A haughty looking Kokori boy came to stand in front of Sheik, and gave him a disdainful glance. He asked something Sheik couldn't understand.

Link faced him, and struggled to lift his head out of the congregation of children. “He asked—guys, hold on!—who—” A Kokiri girl jumped up onto his shoulders, and he toppled over, but Sheik understood the gist.

He bowed for the redhead, trying to stay as pleasant as possible. "Sheik adaseid fara."

The boy looked positively mystified, but after squinting a bit to see Sheik better, he scoffed. "Sheikah!"

The word sounded childish on his tongue, syllables strained and pronunciation thrown to the wind. Sheik flinched.

The Kokiri populace flooded from Link to surround him in a wide circle, all murmuring amongst themselves.

Link had said he wanted to visit the Great Deku Tree—take a walk in the forest. Said they hadn't been outside in a while.

If inside meant staying away from nosy kids, that was fine with Sheik.


	5. Hours

Hours.

Link had been in there for _hours._

It had been OK at first, when Sheik had perched himself in the ancient tree just outside of the Forest Temple. An hour had passed, then two, but still Sheik had sat, strumming away at his lyre.

Then three hours passed.

Then four.

Then five.

That’s when he had started to get nervous. His lyre sat trapped between lithe fingers, strings no longer plucked. Every passing fae, stray firefly, and distant howl made his skin prickle in oversensitivity. He was too in tune with the forest.

Leaning over the edge of his branch, he trained his eyes on the entrance to the temple. It couldn’t be much longer than a few more minutes. Not after the long hours Link had already been in there.

But still Sheik waited.

By the seventh hour his lyre had been stored under his tabard, and he had been reduced to lying on his stomach, peering down at the ground. The Wolfos below him kept catching him off guard with its pacing, and he had to restrain the urge to throw something.

“Sheik.”

He straightened up at the sound of his name so fast he almost fell off of his branch.

“Your Highness.”

Zelda exhaled softly in what was most likely meant to be something affectionate, but didn’t quite make it into a laugh. The stress was eating away at her as well. “Just Zelda. You know that.”

“Does Impa?”

She ignored him, carrying on as though he hadn’t spoken, but a vague sort of irritation licked the edges of her words. He smirked in satisfaction. “You seemed like you were getting impatient. I thought I should check up on you.”

“I wasn’t getting impatient.”

“Liar.”

He huffed, but could only assume she was the one acting smug now, as he was still alone in his tree in the forest.

“I just thought I should tell you to get comfortable, is all.”

Sheik furrowed his eyebrows, adjusting the bandages on his wrists. Was she telling him something was coming, or to actually get comfy? He surveyed the area either way. “What for?”

“Impa said the Forest Temple can get confusing at times.”

“So?”

“She estimated it could Link two days to clear it.”

Comfy it was.


	6. Days

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally some actual shink

Link watched Sheik pace the small space the Fairy Fountain allowed, trying to staunch his smile. He may have been raked with burns and frostbite, but just knowing that he was stuck here—stuck with Sheik, that was—was enough to make him grin. Days. They had _days_. How awesome was that?

The other man didn’t share his thoughts.

Sheik glanced over at him, lounging in a pool empty of fairies, and frowned. He stopped pacing. “What are we going to do?”

“Enjoy the privacy?”

The frown became a scowl. “You have all the medallions, Hero—“

“Link.”

“—and Ganondorf is still seated on the throne. Yet we’re stuck here,” Sheik threw his arms out in a sweeping gesture around their cave, “For Goddesses know how long, because you’re covered in wounds.”

Link didn’t make any move to argue—didn’t make any move at all, really, besides raising his eyebrows. “So you’re just going to stand over there and complain about it?”

“What in the world do you want me to do?”

“I think I made myself pretty clear when I said, ‘Enjoy the privacy’.”

“You were serious?”

“Well I’m certainly not going to let this moment go to waste.”

The start of a blush, however faint, was coloring the tips of Sheik’s ears. He made his way closer, sitting at the edge of the pool beside Link. “What moment could you be referring to?”

“The one where the wounded hero gets kissed by his handsome Sheikahn guide.”

“I don’t think that ‘moment’ was going to be a moment at all.”

Link screwed his face up in a pout. “Why not?”

Sheik stared at him for a few seconds, eyes flitting over his face. He seemed to come to a decision, and leaned down toward Link some, clearly indulging him. “Because that’s not how the hierarchy works, Hero.”

Link reached up, ignoring the way the bandages and burned skin pulled taut and uncomfortable over his arms. Hooking a finger under the edge of Sheik’s mask, he waited to be brushed off, but when he wasn’t, he removed it slowly.

Blue eyes lingered on thin, cupid bow lips. “Link,” Was all he could think to say—a correction. Again.

Sheik’s lips curled into a soft smirk. He leaned down the rest of the way, brushing their lips together in a ghost of a kiss.

“Link.”


End file.
